My first Rodeo.....

[jjmitchell]

Ok.... I have been thinking about getting into making wine for some time.... mostly cause I enjoy making things, and if I can save money versus buying wine and enjoy doing it why not?

Any way down to the meat and potatoes.... Today I started my very first attempt... I bought an equipment kit and 2 ingredient kits. Both ingredient kits were expected to have a really low alcohol content (didnt know this when I bought them).. Anyway I added dextrose to up the alcohol content.... Hoping to see some fermentation start in the next day or so.... I just kinda thought It would be fun to go through and document my process from start to finish see how my product turns out, and get some input and meet some new people.

PS My first kit is a Cornucopia tropical Riesling kit. Today was day one..

 

[Rocky]

Welcome to the madness. Keep us up to date on how things go and let us know if there are any questions. Just curious, what was the "expected" SG and how much did you "up it"?

 

[jjmitchell]

Specific gravity before sugar bump was 1.060 after sugar bump was 1.080 using the potential alcohol... it raised it from 7% to about 10.5% I added 4lbs of dextrose to get to that point.
As of right now it has been just over 4 hours since I sat the fermenter on the cabinet and left it to do its thing.... and the airlock is bubbling every 15-20 seconds.... I am unsure if that is typical or if it is a result in added sugar.

 

[Rocky]

It will probably begin to ferment faster very soon. Try to get the temperature of the wine up to about 75 degrees F.

 

[jjmitchell]

my house stays about 75...... I used room temp bottled water to top everything off. Thanks Rocky
I am interested to see how the Cornucopia kit turns out.... I cant find anything about them anywhere but on amazon.....

 

[jjmitchell]

Update

Today was day 5 time to check specific gravity.... it is supposed to be around 1.020-1.000 and was at 1.040 so will check it again in a few days

 

[Wade E]

It most likey would have been around there but remember you bumped up the sg so you are right around where you should be accordingly.

 

[Rodnboro]

I am bulk aging a Cornucopia White Merlot / Strawberry kit right now. I too bumped the sg to 1.090 and also cut the amount to 5 gallons. The wine tastes ok for the cost of the kit. It's too sweet for my taste with the f-pac, but I made this one for my wife who likes it very sweet. Welcome to the forum.

 

[jjmitchell]

Thanks for the replies guys... I have the cornucopia strawberry merlot setting in the pantry for my next go round..... I am looking to bulk age it fer a while... Just not sure how long....

yes I do realize I added sugar so it will take longer to reach the appropriates center of gravity, one day later I went from 1.040 yesterday to 1.030 today.... so I am sure by tomarrow that we will be in the right area to move to the second fermenter.

@ rodnboro.... I am glad to hear that bumping the sugar content and raising the specific gravity didnt make the wine harsh in you kit..... This is my first batch of wine ever and I am super excited about it. That is the only reason I made it over the strawberry white merlot is It doesnt have to set near as long I am anxious to get into it

 

[jjmitchell]

SO specific gravity was just inside 1.020 today, we racked into carboy, and per directions did a partial degas, reattached the airlock now to wait about 15 days for fermentation to finish up

 

[jjmitchell]

So last night we had 3 days strait at 0.992. I racked back into primary fermenter and then back into secondary (After cleaning secondary I only have 1 carboy right now lol)
I am using a wine whip for degassing on a 18volt bosch drill.... I "whiped" the wine on low speed yesterday and did not see any bubbles at all, kicked it up to high speed and I get quite a few bubbles ending up to be about an inch of foam on top. I am going to keep working on degassing the wine today and hope to get it "whipped" so I can add the other packets that came with kit, and F pack.

I am curious if the bubbles being created are actually co2 or am I just whipping the wine to much and causing it to foam?

 

[Arne]

Kinda sounds like you are whippin the air into it. Pour some in a bottle and shake it up. See if it fizzes kinda like a Coke would do. If it does, you still have co2 in it, if not you are probably degassed. Btw, when you have it in a bottle it is a good time to get a taste of it. Don't get too excited if it isn't great as it is really young, but it mite suprise you. If you get a fizzy taste like Coke gives you, you probably still have some co2 in it. As you can tell, I like to taste. Arne.

 

[jjmitchell]

Degassing is officially a pain in the butt

So today is day 3 of trying to degas this batch of wine.....I have used the wine whip and run down the batteries on my 18v Bosch drill 2 times now, and stirred the hell outta it with my spoon by hand for 30 minutes strait 2 separate times and she is still blowin bubbles........

I put about half a bottles worth in a bottle yesterday and shook it up, and it produced about 1/4 in of "head" like foam.....

I may be getting antsy but I would like to get this thing degassed so I can get the fining agents in this wine kit, sweeten it and get on the way to bottling....

 

[cpfan]

So today is day 3 of trying to degas this batch of wine.....I have used the wine whip and run down the batteries on my 18v Bosch drill 2 times now, and stirred the hell outta it with my spoon by hand for 30 minutes strait 2 separate times and she is still blowin bubbles........

I put about half a bottles worth in a bottle yesterday and shook it up, and it produced about 1/4 in of "head" like foam.....

I may be getting antsy but I would like to get this thing degassed so I can get the fining agents in this wine kit, sweeten it and get on the way to bottling....

What temperature do you have the wine at? They degas quicker at warm temperatures (eg 74F, 24C).

Steve

 

[jjmitchell]

My house stays around 75 degrees all year long... thermometer says wine is at 72 degrees... I used the wine whip for about 1.5 hours strait (watched sons of guns while degassing) Any who finally got it degassed..... Added all necessary chemicals accept chitosan directions told me to wait 15 minuites to add it...

My next question is I am doing all this in my primary because it wont fit in my 6 gallon carboy..... Can I keep it the 2 weeks to clear in my primary or should I use the carboy and a half gallon vodka bottle I have laying around?

I havent tasted since I added flavor pack but it kicked the specific gravity back up to around 1.016 so if I figure right I should be somewhere around 9% alcohol.... any way... thank you guys for all your help along the way... I am almost there to bottle my first creation